Bedmaking apparatus and sheet material



June 18, 1968 J. w. SCRIVENER BEDMAKING APPARATUS AND SHEET MATERIAL Filed May 4. 1966 INVENTOR JOHN W. SCRIVENER ATTORNEY-5 I United States Patent 3,388,406 BEDMAKING APPARATUS AND SHEET MATERIAL John W. Scrivener, Washington, D.C. (515 Oakland Park Ave., Apt. 111, Columbus, Ohio 43214) Filed May 4, 1966, Ser. No. 554,252 1 Claim. (Cl. 5-317) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Power actuated apparatus for withdrawing a soiled sheet from a bed and applying a clean sheet thereto, in which the sheet material is a continuous strip substantially the width of the mattress and supplied from a roll at one end of the bed, the sheet material extending therefrom over and along the mattress to a power operated take-up roll at the other end of the bed, thus providing the lower sheet. The upper sheet is provided by openended pockets spaced longitudinally of the sheet material and within which the sleeper positions himself.

This invention relates broadly to household appliances and, more particularly, to power actuated apparatus for making a bed, by which it is meant in this specification that means are provided which may be actuated to remove from a bed a sheet which has been used and to move into its place a new and unused sheet. It will be apparent that considerable apparatus would be required to move two sheets into their usual upper and lower positions on or above the mattress, and it has accordingly been one of the principal objects of this invention to provide a single sheet of new construction for use with the power operated sheet moving means of the invention, which will have on one sheet both upper and lower sheet parts, whereby separate means need not be provided for moving into place both an upper sheet and a lower sheet.

The invention is described in the following specification and is illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a bed having associated with it the sheet changing means provided by this invention, and

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the new sheet construction provided by the invention, taken on line 2-2 of FIG. 1.

As disclosed in the drawings forming part of this specification the invention may be associated with any usual and conventional bedstead such as that disclosed and which comprises a vertical head piece 2, a vertical foot piece 4, a supporting means 6 extending between the head piece and the foot piece and which is adapted to receive and support a mattress 8.

In accordance with the invention, there is provided on or adjacent the head piece 2 and exterior to the bed itself, a spiral roll 10 of continuous freshly laundered sheet material A which may be of considerable length so that as it is unrolled it will provide a large number of sheets which may successively cover the mattress 8. This roll of sheet material is approximately the same in width as the mattress 8, or slightly greater in width, so that the mattress will be covered by the sheet material withdrawn from the roll. The roll of sheet material may be supported in any suitable way and in the embodiment shown in the drawing it is supported on brackets 12 which receive the shaft or roller 14 on which the elongated sheet material is spirally wound. The brackets 12 are spaced laterally of the bedstead and exterior thereto and are so positioned vertically of the bedstead that the sheet material from the roll 10 will pass easily through the vertical head piece to and onto the upper surface of the mattress 8. The

Patented June 18, 1968 brackets 12 are so constructed that the roll 10 of sheet material may be easily put into and taken out of the supporting relation with the brackets.

At the foot piece of the bedstead and preferably outside thereof there is provided a second pair of brackets which are spaced laterally of the bedstead to support a shaft 21 on which a roll 22 of used sheet material may be wound. Shaft 21 and roll 22 are adapted to be rotated by power operated means such as the motor 24 which is connected to the roll by means such as the endless belt 26. A switch 28 and electrical source 30 are provided for energizing and de-energizing the motor 24.

In the operation of that part of the invention so far described a roll 10 of fresh, laundered heet material will be placed within the brackets 12 and the forward end of the sheet material will be pulled from the roll 10 over the upper surface of the mattress 8 and will be attached to the shaft 21 at the foot end of the bed, although it will be apparent that the described positions of the rolls may be reversed so that the roll of new sheet material will be at the foot end of the bed and the used roll at the head end, or if desired the rolls may be supported at the opposite sides of the bed. After the sheet material on the upper surface of the mattress has been used and when it is desired to replace it, the motor 24 is energized by operation of switch 28 to rotate the shaft 21 and roll 22 and cause the used sheet to be moved from the mattress onto roll 22 and a new length of sheet material to be drawn from the fresh roll 10 onto the upper surface of mattress 8.

It will be seen from the foregoing description that the sheet drawn oil of the roll 10 and onto the roll 22 will provide only one sheet on the upper surface of the mattress, which will be the lower sheet, and means are provided by the invention for providing the upper sheet which is usually associated with a lower sheet in the conventional bed. Such means comprise an open-ended pocket indicated generally by the numeral and a plurality of which are attached in spaced end-to-end relation to the upper surface of the elongated sheet material A which is wound on the new roll 10 and which is wound onto the used roll 22 when the bed is re-made. Each of these pockets 40 comprises a preferably rectangular piece of sheet material which is attached to the basic sheet material A along its longitudinal side edges 42, 44 and along its one end edge 46 as by lines of stitching, being left unattached to the basic sheet material A at the other end 48 so that the person using the bed may enter the pocket and have lower sheet material A and upper sheet material 40 in the normal and usual way.

It will be apparent that after one of the pockets 40 has been used and it is desired to change the sheets, the motor 24 may be operated to draw sheet material off of the roll 10 and onto the roll 22 until the used pocket 40 has been drawn olt the mattress and a new pocket has been drawn into sleeping positions on the mattress.

While I have described and illustrated one form which my invention may take, it will be apparent to those skilled in the arts to which it relates that other embodiments, as well as modifications of that disclosed, may be made and practiced without departing in any way from the spirit or scope of the invention, for the limits of which reference must be made to the appended claim.

What is claimed is:

1. In combination with a bed, apparatus for placing clean sheets on the bed and removing soiled sheets therefrom, comprising a spiral roll of elongated clean sheet material, means for rotatably supporting the roll at one end of the bed in position to permit the sheet material to be drawn from the roll over and onto the bed, a takeup roll for receiving used sheet material from the first roll, means for rotatably supporting the take-up roll at the end of the bed opposite from that on which the roll of clean sheet material is supported, means for rotating the take-up roll to draw new sheet material from the first roll onto the bed and to draw used sheet material from the bed onto the take-up roll, said elongated sheet material having a plurality of open-ended pockets of sheet material spaced longitudinally along its length, each of said pockets being attached to the sheet material along its two longitudinal edges and at one end edge to provide an upper sheet for the person using the bed.

4 References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,343,183 9/1967 Sannes 5-317 1,877,610 9/1932 Steiner 5-334 2,498,055 2/1950 Veit 5334 BOBBY R. GAY, Primary Examiner.

A. CALVERT, Assistant Examiner. 

